I had some images in mind and I tossed a few ideas around with my editor, Kathy Dawson. My early images had to do with the action scenes where Tess and her friends escape from the witch hunter disguised as lepers. I pictured Tess bedraggled and muddy, dressed in a dark hooded leper’s robe. Later Kathy and I discussed the kind of medieval gown Tess would wear. By then I realized we weren’t going with the leper’s robe idea. I remember asking, “Will Tess have a knife in her hand?” and Kathy saying, “I think you will be surprised by the direction this cover is going in, Janet.”

And I was surprised. Completely surprised and delighted! I never could have imagined such a stunning cover. That’s why I’m the writer and not the cover designer.

2 What was your first impression?

I thought it was brilliant. I got that tingling feeling down my arms. I raced downstairs and showed it to my family. My 24 year old son who is not easily impressed said, “Wow!”

3 How do you feel about the Dragonswood cover now?

I find myself staring at it a lot. I love the emotion it invokes. The cover doesn’t focus on the troubles Tess faces in the opening of the book; instead the designer chose to encompass the scope of the novel -- Tess’s flight from bondage to freedom. You feel her freedom in the movement of her leap, yet the background of dragon scales and storm clouds over Dragonswood add a touch of foreboding and the promise of mystery.

In a dark time when girls with powers are called witches, Tess escapes the witch hunter and hides with a mysterious huntsman until magical voices draw her deeper into Dragonswood where she learns the secret of her birth. Caught between love and loyalty, Tess chooses the hardest path of all – her own.

Painful, cathartic and cautiously hopeful; a fairy tale for those who have given up on believing in them, but still yearn for happily ever after. --Kirkus starred review